Boasting a final pointscore more than double that of the nearest club, Newport Surf Life Saving Club has taken out the 2018 NSW Open Surf Life Saving Championships at Blacksmiths Beach.
With the prestigious Ironperson and Taplin Relay races taking centre stage on the final day of the Championships, the Newport team led the charge from the start and were relentless in their attack on the opposition.
Georgia Miller was the favourite going into the Open Female water events and she did not disappoint, taking out the Board, Ski, Surf and Ironwoman events. Miller established a solid lead in the swim leg of the Ironwoman and built on it from there to convincingly take the race ahead of Lizzie Welborn from Nth Bondi and Jemma Smith from Umina.
This makes it five Ironwoman titles in a row for the talented surf athlete who was all smiles as her team mates congratulated her with open arms.
The Newport girls B team were thrilled to take the gold in the Female Taplin Relay, the pinnacle team event of the championships, with Madison Spencer, Grace Gurr and Emily Doyle coming across the line ahead of the A team of Georgia Miller, Hannah Minogue and Lara Moses. The reigning title holders from Umina (Jazmyn Rodwell, Rachel Wood and Jemma Smith) had to settle for third spot this time around.
But Newport remained unable to take the Open Mens Taplin title despite trying to wrestle it away from Manly for the last few years. With the battle being fought by Wanda, Newport and Manly in the early stages of the race, Stewart McLachlan, Jay Furniss, Kendrick Louis, Sam Speer, Nick Dawe and Harrison Stone were stronger in the end, with Newport in second and Redhead slipping into third spot.
Redhead’s Daniel Collins also made his mark today by beating Kendrick Louis in the Open Ironman, the first time a Hunter Branch athlete has won the prestigious title since Josh Blair from Swansea Belmont SLSC got gold in 2000.
Manly’s best individual results came in the Open Male Board with gold and silver to Stewart McLachlan and Harrison Stone, Sam Speer got gold in the Open Ski, Naomi Scott silver in the U19 Female Ironwoman, Ryan Singleton gold in the U17 Surf Race and Harrison Crowley silver in the U17 Ironman.
Today’s winners of the Under 19 Surf and Board races were presented with perpetual trophies honouring two young surf competitors who sadly passed away. The Saxon Bird Memorial Trophy was won for the second year by James De Vries from Shelly Beach SLSC. The Jacob Lollback Trophy was presented to Chris King from Elouera who came first in the U19 Board Race.
Finals day also saw champions decided in the Surf Boats, and the Bulli Gelcon crew cementing their legend status by taking their fifth Open Mens title in a row. In the Open Women, the Elouera Wilco crew just snuck across the line to take the Open Womens event.
With the Championships hailed a great success and returning in 2019 to Swansea Belmont, the club’s work party and army of volunteer officials who make the event happen are looking forward to a well earned break.
The NSW Surf Life Saving Championships are proudly supported by Your local club and the Lake Macquarie City Council.
Overall Pointscore
- Newport SLSC 553
- Manly LSC 247
- Wanda SLSC 221
- North Bondi SLSC 204
- North Cronulla SLSC 198
- Cronulla SLSC 196
- Redhead SLSC 144
- Umina SLSC 144
- Elouera SLSC 134
- Coogee SLSC 118
- Avoca Beach SLSC 100
- Swansea Belmont SLSC 83
- Mollymook SLSC 77
- Freshwater SLSC 70
- Terrigal SLSC 63
- Cooks Hill SLSC 53
- Bondi Surf Bathers LSC 50
- Cudgen Headland SLSC 48
- Queenscliff SLSC 31
- Bulli SLSC 31
- Shelly Beach SLSC 28
- Collaroy SLSC 25
- Ocean Beach SLSC 25
Sunday 11 March 2018